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The US Senate on Thursday gave a final approval to a sweeping reform of the Wall Street to make financial institutions more accountable and prevent a repeat of the 2008 market collapse, handing out a major legislative victory to President Barack Obama.

US President Barack Obama will have to sign the Bill to make it law.

The Senate passed the Wall Street Reform Bill by 60 to 39 votes and the bill is now headed to the White House for Obama to sign in into law.

The House of Representatives had passed the bill early this week.

Immediately before passing the bill, senators first voted 60-38 to end a debate on the bill and then voted 60-39 to dismiss a final roadblock -- a point of order charging the legislation fell afoul of congressional budget rules.

The voting for and against the bill was held largely on party lines with only three of the 41 Republicans in the Senate voting alongside the Democrats in favour of the reform.

The provisions to make financial institutions more accountable will create new protections for millions of consumers.

The passage of the bill was immediately welcomed by the Obama Administration and lawmakers.

"The financial reform legislation approved by the Congress today represents a welcome and far-reaching step toward preventing a replay of the recent financial crisis," said Ben S Bernanke, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

"It strengthens the consolidated supervision of systemically important financial institutions, gives the government an important additional tool to safely wind down failing financial firms, creates an inter agency council to detect and deter emerging threats to the financial system, and enhances the transparency of the Federal Reserve while preserving the political independence that is crucial to monetary policymaking," he said.

It was the second major legislative victory for Obama this year after a bill overhauling US health care in March.

"We're taking the shady markets that operate in the darkness and bringing them out into the daylight," he said.

Some, however, say the bill does not do enough to end the recklessness at the Wall Street.

In a statement after the vote, Senator Bernie Sanders called the overall legislation a "positive step forward" but added that much more has to be done to end the greed and recklessness of Wall Street financiers responsible for the worst economic collapse since the 1930s.

The senator faulted the legislation for not breaking up banks deemed "too big to fail".

Incredibly, three of the four biggest banks in the country are larger today than they were before taxpayers bailed them out, he said.

Sanders also wanted the bill to impose a cap on runaway credit card interest rates.

Senators rejected an even more modest proposal to let states enforce their own usury laws.

Among others, the provision requires extractive companies listed on US stock exchanges to disclose, in their SEC filings, payments made to governments for oil, gas and mining.

"This provision is a critical part of the increased transparency and corporate responsibility that we are striving to achieve in the financial industry.

"Given the catastrophic events in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies, in particular, should well understand that secrecy fosters instability, corruption and greater risk," said Senator Cardin, Chairman of the US

Helsinki Commission and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Lugar said in a Senate floor statement that the Cardin-Lugar amendment brings a major step in favour of increased transparency at home and abroad.

"It empowers investors to have a more complete view of the value of their holdings and brings more information to global commodity markets, which would benefit price stability.

"Most importantly, it helps empower citizens to hold their governments to account for the decisions made by their governments in the management of valuable oil, gas, and mineral resources and revenues," he said.

"The extractive industries transparency provision is another major step forward for protecting US taxpayers and shareholders and increasing the transparency of major financial transactions," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

WS Reform bill to bring greater security to people: ObamaThe sweeping Wall Street Reform Bill passed by the Congress will bring greater economic security to families and business across the country, US President Barack Obama has said.

Passed by both the Chambers of the Congress - the US House of Representatives and the Senate - the sweeping financial overhaul legislation is expected to be signed by Obama in the coming days.

This is considered to be a major legislative and political victory for the US President, whose poll numbers have experienced a downward slide this year. After the passage of the Health Care Reform Bill, this is the second major legislative achievement of his presidency this year.

"From now on, every American will be empowered with the clear and concise information you need to make financial decisions that are best for you. This bill will crack down on abusive practises and unscrupulous mortgage lenders," Obama said soon after his arrival from Michigan.

"It will reinforce the new credit card law we passed banning unfair rate hikes, and ensure that folks aren't unwittingly caught by overdraft fees when they sign up for a checking account," he said adding it will give students who take out college loans clear information and make sure lenders don't cheat the system.

He said that it would ensure that every American receives a free credit score if they are denied a loan or insurance because of that score.

"All told, this reform puts in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history, and it creates a new consumer watchdog to enforce those protections. Because of this reform, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes," Obama said.

"There would be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts - period. If a large financial institution should ever fail, this reform gives us the ability to wind it down without endangering the broader economy. And there will be new rules to end the perception that any firm is 'too big to fail,' so that we don?t have another Lehman Brothers or AIG," he said.

Because of reform, the kind of complex, backroom deals that helped trigger this financial crisis will finally be brought into the light of day, he said.

"From now on, shareholders and other executives can know that shareholders will have greater say on the pay of CEOs, so that they can reward success instead of failure, and help change the perverse incentives that encouraged so much reckless risk-taking in the past," he added.

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